The Rebuttal of the Distinction Between Hand-Drawn Images and Mechanical Images

The Shaykh : And of this type is the distinction between the hand-drawn image and the photographic image, or the distinction between images drawn with a pen or brush and images taken with a camera. This is a greater trial, even if it is less in terms of deception than the previous one. This distinction is rarely avoided by a scholar in the present age; that is because of the widespread trial of people with this device and its images. They say—these who distinguish between the camera, permitting image-making with it, and image-making with the pen and brush—they say, and it is amazing what they say: that this device, first of all, did not exist in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), so its users and those who take images with it do not fall under the generality of the previous hadiths. Among them is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . So this person who takes images with the device does not fall under the generality of the hadith. Why? They claim it is because the device, and because the one who takes images with it, did not exist in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).
My wonder at such speech hardly ceases, especially when it comes from scholars. It is supposed that these scholars always and forever remember that what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says in the hadiths is not from his own independent reasoning or opinion. Rather, it is as our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) said: . So when the Messenger (peace be upon him) said: , the Muslims in general, and the scholars in particular, must realize that this speech is not from himself; , but he received it from the revelation of the sky from his Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He), and then he expressed it in his own words. As for the meaning, it is from Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So it is as if Allah is the one saying: ; because the Messenger does not legislate for people from himself...